Each of Grid's three regions features different racing specialties. In Europe, you'll compete in events such as Le Mans and GT on both fictional and licensed tracks. In the US, you'll visit cities like Detroit and Long Beach for street races. In Japan, you'll get behind the wheel of iconic Japanese sports cars for drift racing.

As you race against AI opponents in all three regions, you'll start seeing familiar names. The idea, Codies says, is to take note of who's out-racing you and whose style complements your own. Then hire them on to gain an edge in a certain racing style. If drift isn't your best category, sign on a drift master to race with you, increasing your odds of winning. There's a "perpetual calendar" of races, too. So if you're having trouble in GT in France, head over to the US and run your Dodge for a bit.

There is a multiplayer component in Grid, but Codemasters isn't saying much about it yet. We were told it will support up to 12 racers online with very few restrictions on cars and tracks. We also know that the campaign mode is offline-only, and there's no co-op available there. A friend can't pop in as your teammate to help you finish a race, for example.

Grid uses Codemasters' own Ego engine, a step up from the Neon engine used to push DiRT. Codies says it has entirely re-written the damage code used in DiRT, too, making for persistent damage environments. If a fender falls off your Mitsubishi in lap one, you'll pass by in lap three. The same goes for piles of tires, chunks of debris and even competing cars.

Vroom.

If you choose the interior camera view as you race, you'll see it take damage too. At least you will if you race like we do. Nothing about the car damage is scripted, Codemasters told us, which should make for some interesting-looking cars at the end of an especially brutal Le Mans.

If you like to see things get smashed, you'll be happy to hear Codies is including a sophisticated replay system into Grid that will not only allow you to view your races afterward but will also let you rewind mid-race and pick up where you left off if you make an error. Apparently using the replay system in such a way comes with penalties though, such as possibly locking you out of achievements or preventing you from posting to leaderboards.

What we were shown of Grid looked sharp, although we didn't get a feel for what it would be like to progress through a career. We didn't see the car buying process, the race selection process or the teammate hiring process. We also didn't see a race start-to-finish, which made it hard to get a feel for Grid's overall attitude. But menus were well-designed, and the cars looked nice.

Of course, a racing game is impossible to assess until you get behind the wheel, something we still haven't done with Grid. But Codies seems to be hitting the sweet spot that lurks somewhere between Forza 2's bland environments and collection-based mechanic; Burnout Paradise's over-the-top antics; PGR4's drift-centrism; and the looming shadow of GT5's photorealism fest.

Grid is scheduled for a simultaneous June release on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PC and Nintendo DS.